


Five to Eight

by omniscientdino



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, M/M, blood tw, can u tell this is wildly out of character, death tw, huhuhuh kill me, i just got Inspired ok, or at least my sad attempt at it, r u happy taylor, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9306332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omniscientdino/pseuds/omniscientdino
Summary: It was five pm and the only person Keith had ever been in love with was dying and all he could do was stare down at him helplessly.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [drippingpen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drippingpen/gifts).



> fuq u taylor. don't expect anything amazing.

It was five pm and Keith’s teammate was dying. It was five pm and Keith’s best friend was dying. It was five pm and the only person Keith had ever been in love with was dying and all he could do was stare down at him helplessly. 

“Keith!” White noise.

“Keith!” Nothing else mattered right now.

“Keith! Answer me!” He looked up and Shiro was kneeling beside where he was sat, Lance bleeding out on his lap.

Blood. He’d never seen that much blood in the whole entire galaxy. How could one human hold so, so much blood? A distant part of him wondered how fast you could run out of blood while a bigger part told him that if he didn’t focus he was going to find out really soon.

A slap rang out and Keith belatedly realized it was his own face that’d been hit. Shiro was suddenly directly in front of him.

“Keith. I need you to focus and tell me what happened.” A pause. “NOW!”

He started reciting, almost as if he were reading back a list. A simple mission to check on the life forms of a nearby planet. It didn’t require the whole team and Allura had sent him and Lance, winking at Keith right before they departed. The people of the planet were peaceful enough, which is why they weren’t expecting the shot they heard. Lance had reacted on pure instinct, jumping in front of Keith and getting directly hit. 

“And the guy who shot him?” Shiro’s brow was furrowed. He knelt down and began to examine Lance, who kept fading in and out of consciousness.

“It was random. No explanation.” Keith squeezed his eyes shut. It was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! They had been through situations hundreds of times more dangerous than this! Neither of them had even entertained the thought that this could be their last mission. Lance had challenged him to a race in the lake not half an hour before and now he was here, dying in his arms. 

This wasn’t supposed to fucking happen. 

“Lance. Lance, buddy, can you hear me?” Shiro’s voice sounded soothing but Keith knew him well enough to hear the slight tremor and his stomach dropped even further. Fuck. Shiro was panicked. FuckFuckFuck.

In his arms, Lance groaned slightly and Keith’s heart broke just the slightest bit more. 

“Lance, I need you to try to wake up.” Shiro’s voice was louder. 

“It’s no use,” Keith told him desperately, fighting and failing to keep his voice steady. “I’ve been trying that ever since I called you.” Shiro groaned in frustration. 

“If he has any chance at living, we need to move him now. My lion is the closest. Wrap this around him,” he said, handing Keith a long strip of cloth. “We need the bleeding to stop immediately. He can’t lose much more blood or he’s done.”

As Keith wound the cloth, Lance kept making noises of pain and Keith felt like he was going to cry. They should be racing in a lake right now. Lance would have his shirt off and Keith would pretend not to care. The light would glint off of water droplets running down Lance’s torso and nothing else would matter. Keith felt like such an idiot. How fucking stupid of him to imagine that he could be happy. 

Lance was heavy but Keith barely even registered the weight, desperate as he was to get Lance to the lion and then to the castle. Shiro’s face looked extremely focused and Keith could sense that his mind was racing, calculating the likelihood of Lance surviving. From the set of his mouth, it was not looking good.

Then again, he didn’t need to look at Shiro to know that. He glanced down at Lance, still in his arms as they settled into the cockpit. His face was twisted in pain and was paler than he had ever seen it. Keith’s heart was racing faster and faster and the dread in his stomach had crawled up and nestled in his throat. Lance was never supposed to look like that. Any moment now, he would sit up and tell the worst joke in all of history and then laugh his ass off and Keith would roll his eyes and memorize every detail in his face when he smiled. He wasn’t supposed to be silent and in pain. He wasn’t supposed to be dying.

“Fuck, Lance. I…” The words trailed off. What do you even say to the person you love as they’re dying in your arms? 

“Keith, just tell him.” Shiro’s voice sounded tight. Keith glanced up wildly at him.

“How did you even-? No. Nevermind. No, telling him would mean-.”

“You know he doesn’t have long. I’m not sure even Allura can save him at this point. You’d regret it your whole life if you didn’t say it out loud to him while you still had the chance.” Keith was shocked to see and tear slip out of Shiro’s eye and, yeah. That did it. Something inside of him broke and tears started streaming out. 

“I can’t. I can’t do it.” He gasped out, his whole body moving with him, even with the weight of another body bearing him down. A smaller noise stopped him in his tracks.

“K-keith?” He stared down to see blue eyes looking back at him and nearly choked.

“Lance! Fuck, Lance! Don’t move, okay. We’re taking you to Allura and-.” 

“No, listen to me, Keith.” Lance’s voice was only slightly above a whisper and Keith was barely holding himself together.

“Don’t talk. You have to save your energy. Listen to me, Lance! You’re going to be fine. You’re not dying. You’re not. You’re not going to die.” His voice broke on the last word and he was well and truly crying now. Beside him, Shiro was calling the castle and informing them of the situation, voice strong, but panicked. 

“Don’t-don’t be stupid. Of course I won’t die, I’m already an angel, duh.” Lance gave a shaky laugh and then immediately winced in pain.

“Lance, please...” Keith pleaded desperately, but Lance just dragged a shaky hand up and rested it over his mouth for a second before letting it fall back. Keith caught the hand in his own.

“I’ve got to t-tell you,” Lance breathed out. His grip on Keith’s hand tightened. 

“Tell me later. Please, Lance, just. Just tell me later, okay?” Keith squeezed his hand back. He couldn’t quite meet Lance’s eyes and so he stared at his mouth, his cheek, his hair, anything. Everything. Lance let out another breathless laugh. 

“Nah, I-I’ll wimp out la-later. I wimp out e-everytime I t-try.” His tone was light, but his voice was weaker than Keith had ever heard. Keith could feel every particle in the universe breaking apart and he wished he could break with them. They weren’t supposed to ever have to actually talk about this. The delicate dance they had been doing for the past two years. Always teasing, never quite committing. Too afraid to say anything. Never quite sure if the other one was serious. 

Well, that was a lie. They both had always been aware, but never felt the need to cross the line. Neither wanted to dive headfirst into the unknown and Keith hated the fact that they were doing this now. Hated the fact that he didn’t think there would ever be another opportunity.

He had been a fucking dumbass. How dare he not consider this outcome. How had he had the audacity to go through life without telling this person how imperfectly perfect they were? How much he meant to him? And now it was nearly too late. Now they would never have what could have been. 

“Keith, you’ve got to know. You have to.” For Lance’s benefit, Keith gave a watery smile.

“Of course I know, you giant idiot. Don’t say it. You don’t have to say it out loud.” He didn’t think he could take hearing it out loud.

“You know I have to say it. For both of us.” Keith squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. 

Another squeeze on his hand brought him back to the present.

“I-,” Lance started, but then spasmed in pain. He let out a cry, sharper than anything he had yelled before and his grip hand went slack in Keith’s.

“Lance? LANCE?” His heartbeat filled his ears.

“Lance, wake up! Lance, please!” He could hear his own voice, but he felt detached, like an observer. Nothing felt real. 

“Keith! Keith I need you to calm down and check for a pulse.” Shiro’s voice was sharp and loud.

“SHUT UP, SHIRO. JUST SHUT UP. What’s the fucking point he’s dead oh my god he’s fucking dead.” The detached sensation was gone and the panic was crawling up his throat, choking him.

“Keith, listen to me! Check for a pulse now, goddammit!” It was only reflex that Keith obeyed. He was too used to following Shiro’s orders. 

“I can’t. I can’t find it. ShiroIcan’tfindhispulseohgodwhatdoIdo-.” He felt it just then. It was so, so incredibly weak but it was there. So many emotions filled him that he just sat there and began to cry again heavily again. 

“Keith, I need you to get ready to run him into the castle. We’re landing in a minute and we need to get him to Allura as fast as possible,” Keith said urgently. Keith took a deep breath. Lance was going to survive this. Lance was going to survive this and he was never going to go another day not knowing how much Keith loved him. 

It was this singular determination that drove him from the lion to the castle door’s bearing Lance’s limp form. 

  
  


Two hours later Keith was parked solidly outside the room where Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Pidge were working on Lance. Beside him was Hunk, dozing off against the wall, brows knitted together in a frown. 

The door opened and Keith half jumped up as Shiro exited. He looked up at him expectantly.

“He’ll just barely make it.” Shiro said it with a grave tone, but relief had flooded his face and he had even given one of his half smiles. 

Keith felt like twenty pounds had just been dragged off of his chest. 

“Can I see him? Is he conscious? Does he remember anything?” The questions came out one after the other in a rushed frenzy. Next to him, Hunk gave a loud snore. 

“Calm down. You can go in and see him when the other three come out. He’s not conscious yet, but he should be awake soon. Wake Hunk up so we can give him the good news.”

“Wait.” Shiro looked at him questioningly. “How did you know? Before? How did you know what I wanted to tell him?” 

Shiro rolled his eyes. “You two think you’re so subtle, don’t you?” Before Keith could retort, the doors opened again and Allura, Coran, and Pidge filed out, looking exhausted.

“Well, he should be fine. No use in doing anything else until we see how he responds to everything,” Allura said. 

“Thank you. Just. Thank you so much. I thought he was going to die.” Keith felt like it was a lame statement in comparison to what they had done, but he was at a genuine loss for any other words. Pidge smiled at him.

“Lance is a part of our team! We’d do anything for him!”

“Did you want to go see him, Keith?” Allura asked, looking at him speculatively. He glanced over at Shiro and then at Hunk. Surely one of them would want to go in first? Shiro just nudged him toward the door. 

The room seemed huge in comparison to the small figure lying on the bed. At least Lance wasn’t as pale anymore. In fact, he looked a hundred times better than he had. Keith dragged a chair up to the bed and rested his arms on its edge. His hands sought out one of Lance’s and he grabbed hold like it was a lifeline. 

Keith’s eyes were feeling heavy. There were things to say, but Lance was asleep. They could wait until he woke up. Not a second longer, though. Keith didn’t think he could bear to let Lance go another second not knowing, fuck the consequences. He would tell him. Just. Just as soon as Lance woke up. Until then, he would wait here, head pillowed in his arms on the softest material he had ever felt in his life. Just a little longer. 

  
  
It was eight pm and Lance’s entire body was aching like a tractor had just dragged it through a cornfield. It was eight pm and Lance was felt like he had been sleeping for a millenia. It was eight pm and Lance was smiling at the sight of Keith slumped on the bed, their hands firmly linked together.

**Author's Note:**

> also follow me on tumblr thefinaldeathlyhallow if u wanna. this is taylor's fault i've not even finished the whole show i just felt the Muse sorry bye


End file.
